Siege of Odessa

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Siege of Odessa
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Romanian troops in Odessa after the siege
Date 8 August – 16 October 1941 (2 months, and 8 days) Location Odessa region, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Result Axis victory Successful evacuation of Red Army troops Subsequent 1941 Odessa massacre
Belligerents
Romania  Germany Aerial support:  Italy	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Ion Antonescu Alexandru Ioanițiu † Iosif Iacobici [ro] Nicolae Ciupercă Erich von Manstein	Georgiy Sofronov Ivan Petrov Gavriil Zhukov Filipp Oktyabrskiy
Units involved
4th Army 11th Army	9th Army Coastal Army
Strength
160,000 men (initially)[1] 340,223 men (total)	34,500 men (initial)[2] 240 artillery pieces 86,000 men (total)[3]
Casualties and losses
92,545 overall 17,729 dead 63,345 wounded 11,471 missing 19 tanks 90 artillery pieces 20 aircraft[4] unknown	60,000 overall[5]

The siege of Odessa, known to the Soviets as the defence of Odessa, lasted from 8 August until 16 October 1941, during the early phase of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Odessa was a port on the Black Sea in the Ukrainian SSR. On 22 June 1941, the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union. In August, Odessa became a target of the Romanian 4th Army and elements of the German 11th Army. Due to the heavy resistance of the Soviet 9th Independent Army and the rapidly formed Separate Coastal Army, supported by the Black Sea Fleet, it took the Axis forces 73 days of siege and four assaults to take the city. Romanian forces suffered 93,000 casualties, against Red Army casualties estimated to be between 41,000 and 60,000.^[5]

It is considered to be the "greatest independent success of the war by any minor Axis power".^[6]